t2 r PETER L.

BERGER

dojust as well to turn to the shrdy of little white mice. sociology will do just as
well to turn to t}e study of little mice. sociology rvill be satisfying in the long
run, only to those who can think of notbing more entrancing tlran to watch
2
men and to understand things human. Personal Experiences and Public Issues
Itt trorr llu &cblogical Imogination
To be zure, sociology is an individual pastime in th€ sense that it interests C. WRIGHT MILLS
some men and bores otlers. some like to observe human beings, others to
experiment with mice. The world is big enough to hold all kinds and there is
no logical priority for one inter€st as against another. But the word "pastime"
is weak in describing what we mean. sociology is more like a pa,ssion. Ttre socio- c. wright Mills wrob of his own un*, 'I lwn trbd to be objrtilx; I do not clcim t
logical perspective is morc like a demon that possesses one, that drives one be datsclu& He argues that socblogists'qurritiotts comelromthesanre sourtes c
compellingly, again and again, to the questions that ar,e its own. An introduc- tlu imprtant guations erxsyvne aslis- theb own aperiences and ttu things t)n
tion to sociolqy is, therefore, an invitation to a very special kind of passion. perpla, anfuse, and inspire thml To be elfuthn, wciologt must molcc a iomee
tbn Mttnen tle hdhndtsl and tlu saial. It rrust alrow ile indiui&ul to see th
laryer suial ontat in which his or ter Efe is litpt add in thb uny giue both wda
stmding od muning to pewnal aperierrc*.

\I r| owadays men often feel that their private lives are a series of traps. The;
within
sensethat their everyday worlds, they cannot overcome tleir trou
bles, and in tbis feeling they are often quite correch what ordinary men an
directly awaru of and what they try to do are bounded by the private orbits ir
rvhich they live; their visions and tleir powers are limited to t}e close-up scene,
ofjob, family, neigtrborhood; in othermilieux, theynorevicarioustyand remair
spectator. And the more aware tbey become, however vaguety, of ambition:
and of threats which transcend their immediate locales, the more trapped the;
seem to feel.
underlying this sense of being trapped are seemingly impersonal change
in the very structure of continent rvide societies. The facts of contemporari
history are also facts about the success and the failure of individual men anr
women. when a society is industrialized, a peasant becomes a worker; a feu
dal lord is liquidated or becomes a businessman. when crasses rise or fall, r
man isemployed or unemployed; when therate of investmentgoes upordown
a man takes new heart orgoesbroke, when wars happen, an insurance sales
man becomes a rocket launcher; a store clerk, a radar man; a wife lives alone
a chitd grows up without a father. Neitber t}e life of an indMdual nor the bis
Cory ofa society can be understood without understanding both.
Yet men do not usually define the troubles they endure in terms of histori
cal change and institutional contradiction. The well-being they eqjoy, they dr
not usualty impute to the big upsand downsof thesocieties in which they live
Seldom aware of the intricale connection between the patterns of their owl
lives and the course of world history ordinary men do not usually know wha
this connection means for the kinds of men they are becoming and for thr
kinds of history-making in which they might take part. They do not posses
 14 B C.WRIGHT MILLS PersonaI Experiences and Pub“ c issues ●
ls
he quattty oF:山 nd essential to grasp the inttrplay oF man and sOciety,of
1
Ы。
騨 pЦyandh鷺 と
っry,oFseifand wOnd.They cattotcope Ⅶth herpersOnd
trouЫ es h such ways asto conttOlthe smcmral位 4面 mations that usuauy
le behttnd them.

盛憾館離鍵艶酪熾爛鶴鰈
驚隠 照 駕餓 盤 R庶 需艦庶 41器
hisperiOd,in the cOurse oFa sLttle generatbn,One s故 th ofmankind is trans_

棚 雌
殺跳 線 路
螂 棚 蜘
f篤附 躍蹴 零1寵 紹 f躍謎譲齢
亀 饂
爛 持
芭津
沖餓 棋脚
preparation ofWO』 d War Three.
Theverysttipingofhistoり noW Outpaces the abnity ormen to Orientthem‐
selves in accordance胡 h chetthed vdues.And wtth valuW Even when

錦 黙 配 驚 監 R肥 鶴 誌 離 蠍 総 常 緒 認 鷲躍 怒

郎 辮 鞘 触醜
沼講鰍離 黙巡辞鴛歓紹解
Itis notonly hformattOn hatthey need― inthkAgeofFacLinfOma傲 〕 n orten
dominates heir atttntion and overvhelms heir capacities to assimilate iL It

翠鍵 選!:焦 靴鰍紹篤:荒4霧
1耀 ζ
gh ttdr ttwttes tO

駕 篤隅 :1紹 肌錦濡越r∬撒貯器諸留‖
heと
綿鞘 認器 訛 :解球

継榊輔灘 Ⅲ
鷲評密
蕉
脇麟帥 辮
2.WheredOes饉 sOcietystand in humanhistOry箔 嗣臨tarethem鋤 an_
ics by which it tt changin♂ WhatiSits place Mtttn and its meaning
16 B C.WRIGHT MILLS
PersonaI Experiences and Pubhc lssues □ lT

解解既鰹剛糀鷺那甲品温蹴 :
2

道重
torical period in which it moves?And this period― ―what are its
essential Featureゞ HOw dOes it dffer fron other periぬ
itt charactertttた ways oFnstoり・maktt「
?What are

3,What vaieties ofmen and women now prevall h htt sOciety and h
this period?And、 vhat varieties are coming to pttvail?In what ways
郵
職謙
蓑浮
選静
爵彗
酵贅 懇盤辮 1弾
are they selected and rbrmed,Lberated and reptted,租 de sensi‐
償ve and blunted?What kinds ofthuman namre'are revealed in the
conduct and characterwe obseⅣ e in this sOciety in this poriOd?And
whatis the meaning fOr`human nature'oFeach and every rと ature Of
he sOciety ve are examming?

a Fam霊 i鑑 絆
誓 艦驚幣謂:: 協鰍
lysts have asked.They are the intellectual pivots ofdassic studies ofman in
為 略 have to dO覇 五dh mattrs thattranscend these 10cal envれ nments of

瀧聰配瞥監蹴 縞靴H駕 黙解甜 離需;濡甜

0礎 ド
呵碑苗
確 欧
瓶he p近 tO another― dcaltohe psychologicalifrom exam‐

胤鴨 靴 脇 鰯 瑞 諾 胤 毒鰍 総 離瑠輩
consderadons OF an ol industry tO studies of contemporary poet呼 .It is the
capacity to range from he mostimpersonalttnd remote tmnsforttmons t。
the=nostinttmatefeaturesoFthehuman ser― andtoseetherehtionsbe"een
heho Back ofitsuse thereisalways the urtt to kno、 v hesocialand h温 的直cal
meanng oftheindi宙 dual h he society and in the pedod in whch he has his
quattty and his being.
That,inbrieittwhyitisbymeAn(Ofthe sociologicalimaginadOn hat men

離 脳 拙 齢 靭 ;螂筆
now hope to grasp whattt gOing on h the vOnd,and to understtnd whatis
happening ln themselves as minute points oF the inters∝ tbns of biOraphy
and histott With Society.Im large part,cOntemporttv mant self‐ conscbus

部 穣
宙e、v ofL山 画陰eras atleast an ou強 壺der,iFnot a permnent strangcr,rests upon
an absorbed realizatton oFsocial relat市 ity and ofthe transformadve pover of
h監 北ory.The sociok増 lcaHmaginatお n h the mOst fruitrui form of thる ser‐
consciousness.By tt use men whose mentalities have swept only a series of
linited orbitsoFten come to reel asiFsuddenty awakened in a house with wnch
mttrheeco銘 選蘊濫群
:慮 監球器種¶甜龍
heyhadottsupposedtheF`SdVestっ be FamiliaR COr∝ uyorincOrr∝ 吐 hey

饂 輔岬辮選欝 》操聴酪
Orten cometo ttithatthey cannowproⅥ de thenselves胡 h adequatesumma‐
領ons,ccheSve assessments,comprehensNヽ orienぬ 領ons,Older decisions that
onceappeared sottdnowseemtothemproduぬ oFa面 測 umccoШ ttblydense.
:試
to the war`terminatiOn.In short,accOrding歓 one`values,tO and a set oF

縄 駅鶏 認拙脇 駅総 織制 脇 ど 糊熙
andbyhdrsettu thttrealiZethecuitw41 m翻 耐 ng Ofhe soctt scienc鶴 熱機蠍憾1蠅鞘 麟紺 輝鵡 ,
 18 B C.WRIGHT M,LLS

Fanily and reliび OuS insdtudOns,win he unOrganizedと responsib甑 ty oF a

world oFnatiOn_states.
Constter mardageolnside a mar面 age a man and a wOman mayexpedence 3
personal ttoubles,but、 『 hen the divOrce ratt during the arst rbur years oF
marriageと 250 out oF every l,ooo aЫ 々mpts,his is an indication oFa struc‐
The晩 gedyoFthe cOmmons・
mrd i闘 Be having tO dO前 山 the insdtuttons ofmar五 age ttd the Fatt and GARRETT HARDIN
other instittttions dhat bear upon them.
OrcOnsider he mempOL_th軸 伽 欄 缶beauml,uttmagnincentspravl
OftheFeatcivFormanyupperthsspeople,hepersonalsoludOntottheprob‐
lemoFthewiStOhaveanapamentwittp遭 狙俺 騨 geunderit h heheart
ofthedtt andfOtty面 les outt a hOuse byHenttI皿 ,garden by Cartttt EckbO,
On a hundred acres of ttvate land.In these t、 vo con的 担
ed environments_
胡 th a smallsttrat each end and a private heucOpぬ r connectiOn― mOst peo‐
∬e COuld solve matt Ofthe problems orpersond mneux caused by the rれ ts bttι 力′どれθ′ο脇 9′ る,Pっ ιαrfυ α
ノSd?力 μ
ofhe civ Butall h歯 ,hOwever splendd,dOes nOtsOlve he pub』 cと sues that 歳 dby:υ 力αιるう ο′ど
ん
?sι デ ?ね ι
ヵぇTれぞα渤 っ′るα ra脇 9ど ぅ
he structural Fact Ofthe city poses.What shOuld be dOne witt thiswOnderful メ▼ど 0う αどPO″ ′
Pα ι
il,打

monstЮ slΨ Break it all up lnto scattered units,cOmbining residence and 破 ぬ跳 統 紹 撤 凝 源 駐

mrk?Refttish it as■ sЙ ndゞ 0、 aFter evacuattn,dynaniteitand bldd ne、 v 遺 濃
ci甑 es a∝ 。耐 嘘 tO new plansin dew placeW WhatshOuld thoseplanslげ And
who h to decide and tO accomplish vhatever chOice is mado?These are struc‐
慎ral歯 鼠鸞 射 tO COnfrontthem and tO sOlve them requiresus to considerpchti‐
cal and∝ onomic issues hat afF∝ tinnumerable rnilieux。
熾 鶏 鰐 脇
h so Far as an∝Onomy ls sO arrttged that stumps∝ cutt he pЮ
mernploymentb∝Onesincapお leoFpersonal∞ mon.hsOfaraswartt meト
bに m Of

entin the natiOn‐ sttite system and in the uneven industrializatiOn oFthe world〕 灘 端 撒 r… 賦
… 軸
heordinttvれ di撹 dual h his re的 礎 td mtteuwin bepowedess=萌 血 or胡
Ou中
h_ ■総 謎鴛協邁縄剛 i驚 R祐 織継濡ξ
瑞呂鴛艦 &ご
ChiattiC aid一 to sO"e the ttoubles thissystem orlack of叫
ツ
畿 m撤 嗚 es
り

upon him.h so ttr as the Famiv aS tt instim観 On turns wOmen htっ

da血 電
litde slaves and=nen into ther chieFprovidens and unveaned dependentstthe
pЮblem oFa sattsFactory marnage remains incapaЫ e oFpureも ,p鵡
玉te sOlu‐
甑on.h so rar as the Overdeve10ped mega10polと and he overdeve10ped auto‐
mobde are built_in features oFthe overdevdoped sOciett the iSSues oFurban
living胡 li nOt be solved by personalingen亜 ty and private weahh. 縄鰹 辞
乱鴛訛 詐
殺岳
Whatw∝ ゃ 頭 encehnandspttncn酌
by structural changes.A∝ ordingi}tO understand tte changes ofmany peト
喝 I havenoted,歯 Ottncaused
盤綽蝶鶴 盤 と
脇磁饂
sonal miheuxve are required toloOk beyond them.Andthe numberandvan‐
継鰍 劇 流
eり oFsuchmcturalchangesincrease as theinsdtudOnwidtth vhich ve脱
become more embrachgand moreinttcately connected wih One anothen T。
:諄 ￡鷲
龍 〓'thげ
Fi出綻
shted that the sdu甑 On的

be aware ofthe idea OFsOcial stttcmre and to use it with sensibility is tO be

capable oftrachg such linkages among a great vanety oFmilieux.To be able
to do thatお topossessthe sodЛ Ogicalintunation.
期
守
ReFettn盛 and foOtnotes can be rbund in the oコginal aldde,putt in1968甑 転
阿∬滋庵'ぇ ο
″l